<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
It is derived frog the sentence, <em>wa amru-hum shura baina hum</em>, of verse
38, implying thereby that it is a Surah in which the word <em>shura</em> has
occurred.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
Although it could not be known from any authentic traditions, yet one
feels after a study of its subject matter that this Surah might have
been sent down consecutively after Ha-Miim As Sajdah, for it seems to
be, in a way, a supplement to it. This will become clear to every
person who first studies Surah Ha-Mim As Sajdah carefully and then goes
through this Surah. He will see that in that Surah the Quraish chiefs
had been taken to tack for their deaf and blind opposition so that
anyone in Makkah and in its out-skirts, who had any sense of morality
and nobility left in him, should know how unreasonably the chiefs of
the people were opposing Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace), and as
against them, how serious he was in everything he said, how rational
was his standpoint and how noble his character and conduct.
Immediately after that warning this Surah was sent down, which did full
justice to teaching and instruction, and made the truth of the Holy
Prophet's message plain in such an impressive way that anyone who had
any element of the love of the truth in him and who had not been
blinded by the errors of ignorance, could not help being influenced by
it.
</p>
<h2>Theme and Subject Matter</h2>
<p>
The discourse begins in a way as if to say:"Why are you expressing
surprise and amazement at what Our Prophet is presenting before
you?What he says is not new or strange, nor anything novel, which
might have been presented for the first time in history: that
Revelation should come down to a man from God and he should be given
instructions for the guidance of mankind. Allah has been sending
similar Revelations with similar instructions to the former Prophets
before this. It is not surprising that the Owner of the Universe
should be acknowledged as Deity and Ruler, but what is strange is that
one should accept another as divine and deity in spite of being His
subject and slave. You are being angry with him who is presenting
Tauhid before you, where as the shirk that you are practising with
regard to the Master of the Universe is such a grave crime as may
cause the heavens to break asunder. The angels are amazed at this
boldness of yours and fear that the wrath of Allah might descend on
you any moment." 
</p>
<p>
After this the people have been told that a person's
being appointed to Prophethood and his presenting himself as a Prophet
does not mean that he has been made master of the people's destinies
and he has come to the world with that very claim. Allah has kept the
destinies in His own hand. The Prophet has come only to arouse the
heedless and guide the strayed ones to the Right Path. To call to
account those who do not listen to him and to punish or not to punish
them is Allah's own responsibility. and not part of the Prophet's work.
Therefore, they should take it out of their head that the Prophet has
come with a claim similar to those that are made by their so called
religious guides and saints to the effect that he who would not listen
to them, or would behave insolently towards them, would be burnt to
death: In this very connection, the people have also been told that
the Prophet has not come to condemn them but he is their well wisher;
he is warning them that the way they are following will only lead to
their own destruction. 
</p>
<p>
Then, an answer has been given to the question:
Why didn't Allah make all human beings righteous by birth, and why did
He allow the difference of viewpoint owing to which the people start
following each and every way of thought and action?The answer given is
this: Owing to this very fact has it become possible for man to attain
to the special mercy of Allah, which is not meant for other dumb
creatures, but is only meant for those endowed with power and
authority, who should take Allah as Patron and Guardian not
instinctively but consciously by willing choice. Allah supports the
man who adopts this way and guides and helps him to do good and right
and admits him into His special mercy. On the contrary, the man who
misuses his option and makes his patron those who are not, in fact,
the guardians, and cannot be, are deprived of divine mercy. In this
connection, it has also been made clear that only Allah is the Patron
of man and of all other creatures. Others are neither the patron nor
have the power to do full justice to patronage. Man's success depends
only on this that he should make no mistake in choosing a patron for
himself by the use of his free choice, and should take only Him his
Guide Who, in reality, is the real Patron. 
</p>
<p>
After this, it has been
explained what the <em>Din</em> being presented by the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(upon whom be Allah's peace) really is: 
</p>
<p>
Its primary basis that as
Allah Almighty is the Creator, Master and real Patron of the Universe
and Man, He alone is Man's Ruler, He alone has the right to give Man
Faith (<em>Din</em>) and Law (system of belief and practice) and judge the
disputes of man and tell what is Truth and what is falsehood. No other
being has any right whatever to be man's lawgiver. In other words,
like the natural sovereignty, the sovereignty with regard to lawmaking
also is vested only in Allah. No man or creature, apart from Allah,
can be the bearer of this sovereignty. And if a person does not
recognize and accept this Divine rule of Allah, it is merely futile
for him to recognize the natural sovereignty of Allah. 
</p>
<p>
On this very
basis has Allah ordained a <em>Din</em> (True Religion) for Man from the very
beginning. It was one and the same Religion that was vouchsafed in
every age to all the Prophets. No Prophet ever founded any separate
religion of his own. The same one Religion has been enjoined by Allah
for all Mankind since the beginning of creation, and all the Prophets
have been following it and inviting others to follow it. 
</p>
<p>
This Religion
and Creed was not sent so that man may rest content only with
believing in it, but it was sent with the purpose and intention that
it alone should be introduced, established and enforced in the world,
and no man made religion be made to prevail in Allah's earth apart
from His Religion. The Prophets had not been appointed only to preach
this Religion but to establish it particularly in the world. 
</p>
<p>
This same
was the original Religion of mankind, but after the death of the
Prophets, selfish people created new creeds by creating schisms for
vested interests due to selfconceit, vanity and ostentation. All the
different religions and creeds found in the world today have resulted
from corruption of the original Divine Truth. 
</p>
<p>
Now, the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace,) has been sent so that he may
present before the people the same and original Religion in place of
the various practices and artificial creeds and man made religions,
and may try to establish the same. On this, if instead of being
grateful, you feel angry and come out to fight him, it is your folly;
the Prophet will not abandon his mission only because of your
foolishness. He has been enjoined to adhere to his faith at all costs
and to carry out the mission to which he has been appointed. Therefore,
the people should not cherish any false hope that in order to please
thee he would cater to the same whims and superstitions of ignorance
which has corrupted Allah's Religion before. 
</p>
<p>
You do not understand how
great an impudence it is against Allah to adopt a man made religion
and law instead of the Religion and Law enjoined by Allah. You think
it is an ordinary thing and there is nothing wrong with it. But in the
sight of Allah it is the worst kind of <em>shirk</em> and a grave crime whose
punishment will be imposed on all those who enforced their own
religion on Allah's earth and those who adopted and followed their
religion. 
</p>
<p>
Thus, after presenting a clear and visible concept of
Religion it is said:"The best possible method that could be employed
for your instruction and for bringing you to the Right Path has
already been employed. On the one hand, Allah has sent down His Book,
which is teaching you the truth in a most impressive way in your own
language; and on the other, the lives of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(upon whom be Allah's peace) aud his Companions are present before you
by which you can see for yourselves what kind of men are prepared by
the guidance given in this Book. Even then if you do not accept this
guidance, nothing else in the world can bring you to the Right Path.
The only alternative, therefore, is that you should be allowed to
persist in the same error in which you have remained involved for
centuries, and made to meet with the same doom which has been destined
by Allah for such wrongdoers." 
</p>
<p>
While stating these truths, brief
arguments have been given, here and there, for <em>Tauhid</em> and the Hereafter,
the world worshipers have been warned of the evil consequences and
their punishment in the life hereafter, and the disbelievers have been
criticized for the moral weaknesses, which were the real cause of
their deviation from the truth. The Surah has been concluded with two
important themes. 
</p>
<p>
First, that the Holy Prophet was wholly unaware of
this concept of the "Book" or the True Faith during the first forty
years of his life and then his sudden appearance before the people
with those two things, is a manifest proof of his being a Prophet.
</p>
<p>
Secondly, his presenting his own teaching as the teaching of God does
not mean that he claims to have spoken to God, face to face, but God
has conveyed to him this Guidance, as in the case of all other
Prophets, in three ways: He speaks to His Prophets either through
Revelation, or from behind a veil, or He sends an angel with the
message. This thing was clarified so that the opponents did not have
an opportunity of accusing the Holy Prophet of claiming to have spoken
to God, face to face, and the lovers of the truth should know by what
methods Allah gave instruction to the man whom He had appointed to the
mission of Prophethood.
</p>

